(gentle music)
- So in 2015, Charlie was five years old,
and she was diagnosed with Nephrotic syndrome
and FSGS, Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis.
After that diagnosis, we were referred here
to C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and we were put on
a regiment of pills and treatments, trials,
we tried everything and now, in 2019,
here we are at transplant date
so we are a week away from transplant,
and I will be donating my kidney to Charlie,
we're a blood match, so we'll hopefully give her
a new lease on life and allow her to return
to a more normal childhood that's free of all
the pokes and constant dialysis visits
and she's ready to kind of turn the page
and start this next chapter.
She has a great sense of humor,
she loves comic books, pop music,
she just has a sensibility about her
that's kind of beyond her age.
- I sailed across the Atlantic Ocean.
My father was there with me.
- Like a lot of the little victors here at Michigan,
she's got a fighting spirit
and she's certainly gone through a lot
for a kid her age but she's definitely gonna come out of it
a better person and have some wisdom beyond her years.
(light music)
- So in Charlie's case, the disease that she has
that caused her kidneys to get sick
is something called Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis,
and that disease makes the patient spill a lot of protein
in their urine which causes them to not be,
it can cause problems with nutrition, other things,
so at the time of the operation,
we're gonna take out her right kidney,
the kidney that is sick and that will keep it
from spilling more protein in the future.
It takes a whole team to make it happen,
but the donor and the recipient are really
the most important parts of that team.
(light music)
(lively music)
So we're just getting done with Charlie's operation.
Everything went fantastic.
The kidney pinked up right away,
it started making urine which is a really good sign
and that makes me happy knowing that the kidney is working
and also knows now it's really up to Charlie
to just heal up and get out of the hospital.
The act of being a living organ donor
is an amazing gift of generosity.
It's really about altruism, it's about helping other people,
it's putting people ahead of yourself.
It's really the ultimate act of humanity
and it's just amazing each time.
(light music)
- So here we are at our house in Battle Creek
a little over two weeks removed from the surgery,
and we're getting outside
to enjoy some of the beautiful weather
and kick off summer and everybody's healing up.
We're just excited to be home and to be surrounded
by friends and family and to be back
doing some of the things that we love doing.
It's surreal, absolutely, to realize that my old kidney,
lefty, we called it, is now in her,
and that it's doing all the work
that kidneys are supposed to do.
This next year is really exciting for us
because obviously she's going to hopefully return
to a more typical childhood where she can not have to worry
about doing the dialysis.
She'll have more energy,
probably more than she's ever had before.
It's certainly encouraging.
Right now we're just taking it a day at a time.
We're kind of slowly getting back into being more active
and taking it easy for now but everything so far
is so good and we couldn't have asked for better care
and a better support team that we have here.
(lively music)